Chapter 1872: Roulette

With a flip of their right hand, the Exorcism Ancestor revealed their palm. Beneath the flesh and blood, a gray parasitic worm, about the length and thickness of a pinky finger, wriggled out. It was a bit disgusting.

"Eat!" the Exorcism Ancestor's words were concise.

The gray parasite, hearing the command, leaped high and swallowed the black tongue-tip blood in one gulp.

"Pop." A soft sound was heard, and the worm exploded into dust. The splattered black liquid was gathered by the Exorcism Ancestor with one hand and collected in a small stone bottle.

At the same time, with a flick of their right hand, the two fingers that had been stained with blood and had eaten hair merged, forming an ochre-colored talisman brush. The brush had distinct sections, one gold and one red.

"Oh, wow..." Xu Xiaoshou was amazed. From start to finish, every one of this being's actions precisely evaded his predictions—he couldn't fathom what they were doing!

The Exorcism Ancestor held the brush, placed the stone bottle on the table, brought over a turntable, and began muttering incantations. What they muttered was inaudible and didn't sound like human speech.

"This is just a wooden turntable blank; I haven't started carving it yet," the Time Ancestor finally couldn't help but interject. It was clear that the Exorcism Ancestor intended to tamper with the wooden turntable. This was surely related to the protection they had promised the Name Ancestor. But shouldn't they choose something better? This turntable was just an ordinary one, originally a broken log picked up from the roadside. It had even been rained on. Working with something like this, wouldn't it break easily?

"Don't speak," the Exorcism Ancestor said, sounding rather displeased. Being a meticulous individual, they required a quiet environment when performing rituals. The Name Ancestor and the Time Ancestor fell completely silent.

Xu Xiaoshou watched silently as the Exorcism Ancestor, with the ochre talisman brush formed from their fingers, began to mysteriously trace patterns over the turntable. The brush didn't touch the surface; it merely hovered above the turntable. Of course, the talisman brush was just a brush; what it traced and drew didn't produce any surging power, nor did it create any exquisite patterns like those of heavenly mechanisms.

"The Great Dao... is simplicity itself...?" Xu Xiaoshou couldn't understand, so he could only explain it to himself this way. He stared at the turntable's pointer, beginning to understand why it broke so easily. It all seemed quite unreliable...

Before long, the masked figure, having finished their mysterious incantations and tracings in the air, began to draw on the wooden turntable with the talisman brush. Xu Xiaoshou moved closer. He was now just a few steps away from the three figures.

He tried to discern some technique: brushwork, magic, painting... Nothing! There was no discernible method! The masked figure was simply smearing pigments onto the wooden turntable, painting the base sections gold and red, still in a 9-1 ratio.

Finally, when the blood-like pigment was applied, they flicked the talisman brush, and it transformed back into two fingers, the bloodstains on their fingertips gone.

"It's the bottle's turn..." Xu Xiaoshou made another prediction. This time, he was right. The masked painting master didn't even look; they grabbed the stone bottle and poured the black parasitic worm's corpse fluid onto their right palm, then... began to smear it. They smeared it onto the turntable. They applied it very evenly; wherever their palm covered, the exterior of the turntable changed from wood color to black.

"Where's the brush?" Xu Xiaoshou was completely confused. If they had a talisman brush, why weren't they using it? And why, from beginning to end, was their talisman brush not used for drawing talismans, but for painting? Oh, it seemed they did draw something. Did they draw a talisman in the void that only clever people could see? It didn't matter now. Was there some special meaning to stopping halfway with the brush and switching to using their hand?

"Done!" The three pigments had been applied. Xu Xiaoshou had high expectations, but he never imagined that this masked figure, whose status had seemingly diminished to the point where it was difficult to call them a deified ancestor, would create something so... plain.

The masked figure lifted the black turntable high, saying with great satisfaction to the Name Ancestor, "This object can help you grow quickly after reincarnation." The air grew somewhat silent. Xu Xiaoshou was also speechless.

So, no power was imbued, which is why the pointer broke so easily? It wasn't entirely his fault?

"Hoo..." The Name Ancestor let out a long sigh. They turned to look behind the Time Ancestor, where nine magnificent time dragons, vast enough to engulf heaven and earth, coiled. Then they looked back at the black turntable in front of them, which seemed very crude. A corner of their mouth twitched, and after holding it in for a long time, they finally uttered two words: "Minimalist."

The Time Ancestor, less subtle, asked directly, "What did you do?" The masked figure, quite proud of their masterpiece, introduced it voluminously: "I have applied the power from both of your bloodlines entirely onto this turntable."

"Breaking the Nine Worlds is difficult. Name can use this item to pass through the early stages and grow quickly. Your avatar can also use this item to precisely locate and protect him." "Here! Take it." They said, handing the black turntable to the Name Ancestor. The latter let their sleeve hang down, unmoved, merely remarking, "It truly is impressive."

The masked figure was not embarrassed by this. They casually placed the black turntable on the stone table, walked to the front of the River of Time, and their voice became solemn: "Reincarnate, Name! The strategy to break the calamity depends entirely on you. My side is full of tough battles; I can only hold on until you return to assist. And after your reincarnation, although I cannot protect you as he can, I can use the aura of the corpse-parasite fluid to find you immediately... I will remind you."

"Find? Remind?" Xu Xiaoshou was slightly stunned. This corpse-worm fluid, surely it was the fluid from that unlucky parasitic worm? If so, and the black turntable ended up on him, then this masked figure... No, he should still respectfully refer to them as the Exorcism Ancestor. This Exorcism Ancestor should have found him and reminded him. But where were they? He had never seen anyone wearing an exorcism mask! He had seen a Yama mask, but that was clearly not the Exorcism Ancestor. Huang Quan might even be an avatar of the Time Ancestor, Kong Yuhen.

"Remind?" Why was there not even half a reminder from beginning to end? Even leaving a reminder like "Don't flick the pointer, flick the turntable" would have been a complete success!

Clearly, he wasn't the only one with these doubts; the Name Ancestor also asked, "How will you remind me?"

The white mist gradually thickened, and the scene began to blur again. Amidst the rumbling sounds, Xu Xiaoshou couldn't tell if a great calamity was approaching or if this "past? future?" segment was about to end. He strained to look, but an invisible force pushed him slowly backward, towards his starting position.

"Wait a moment!" Xu Xiaoshou cried out in his mind, feeling that the Exorcism Ancestor's reminder was crucial, and he needed to understand it before leaving. It was of little use. He retreated, and in the distance of the scene, space was disintegrating. In the far distance, he could vaguely discern the Exorcism Ancestor, tall and majestic in their contrasting exorcism robes, standing before the nine magnificent, dragon-like Rivers of Time. Their garments fluttered wildly in the wind, and clanging sounds emanated from their side.

Only then did Xu Xiaoshou notice that the Exorcism Ancestor had many small trinkets hanging from their waist: rattles, copper coins, wooden swords, paper figures, and other items that were too indistinct to see.

They moved. A fierce aura surged from their body. "Let me finish watching..." Xu Xiaoshou resisted his increasingly blurry thoughts, wide-eyed, still watching. The Exorcism Ancestor was building momentum! They were about to strike!

"Boom." The River of Time, with its surging waves, roared. The Exorcism Ancestor, a faint silhouette, suddenly raised both sleeves, formed a high hand seal with their fingers before their chest as if to summon something, and simultaneously shouted: "Name! After your reincarnation, I will use this item to awaken you. Remember the slogan between us..." The wind was too strong. The white mist was too dense. Xu Xiaoshou couldn't hear the rest of the message, and eventually, even the scene became almost impossible to discern. But suddenly, amid the shattering of heaven and earth, the Exorcism Ancestor's stern shout echoed: "Manifest!!!"

Rumble— The scene collapsed. Xu Xiaoshou nearly fell out. But at the last moment, he used his will as a sword, severed a wisp of his consciousness, and forcefully threw it into the collapsing scene. The white mist was scalding, almost scorching through his residual consciousness. He continued to resist, moving with difficulty through the thick fog, retreating rather than advancing, but finally, before completely losing consciousness, he clearly saw what the Exorcism Ancestor had summoned! —A tiny black mosquito flew over from a distance.

"Buzz!" "Buzzz!!!" A ringing in his ears came in waves. It was somewhat like the lingering echo of a large cymbal struck forcefully beside his ear, but even more like the annoying buzzing of a mosquito. Xu Xiaoshou had a nightmare. In his dream, he lay in a white hospital room, and with an unknown person's forceful shout of "Manifest," ten thousand mosquitoes were summoned. The mosquitoes buzzed, relentlessly biting only him. Xu Xiaoshou was covered in bites but gained a billion passive points, successfully becoming a deified ancestor.

Upon becoming a deified ancestor and ascending to the Heavenly Realm, he was actually received by an envoy. The envoy wore an exorcism mask, was dressed in exorcism robes, shook a wooden staff with bells hanging from it, and performed a ritual dance with splayed legs around a bonfire, seemingly in welcome.

As he returned a respectful smile, the envoy removed their exorcism mask, revealing a mosquito head the size of a human head, and grinned: "I am the Mosquito Ancestor. Who are you?"

Xu Xiaoshou was abruptly awakened, escaping the nightmare. He sat up from the hospital bed, realizing he was covered in cold sweat. He's gone mad! Who has gone mad?! Why, at the end of the scene, did the Exorcism Ancestor summon a mosquito?!

"Find?" "Remind?" "They didn't do either, did they?!" Xu Xiaoshou was utterly bewildered, scratching his head and fidgeting with his feet. He felt that his entire analysis of the white mist scene might have just been a prank.

No, that's not right. He suddenly remembered. After reawakening in the Heavenly Sang Spirit Palace, the first living creature that triggered the passive system's "Under Attack" function was seemingly... "A mosquito?" Xu Xiaoshou then pressed a finger to the side of his nose, lowered his head, and fell into a long silence.

He was thinking. He thought for a long time. He still couldn't recall what that mosquito looked like, or if it was the same one that appeared at the end of the white mist scene. After all, he hadn't even seen the mosquito at the time; he'd just felt an itch on his arm and swatted away the Exorcism Ancestor's contingency plan.

"...This has me completely stumped." "Could it really be Kong Yuhen's prank?"

Raising a hand to wave away the smoke from his overheated head, he decided not to overthink what he couldn't figure out. Xu Xiaoshou looked in front of him, but the passive system was gone. He looked into his mind, and the red interface was also gone.

Thump! His heart suddenly skipped a beat. Xu Xiaoshou quickly joined two fingers and poked the hospital bed. The bed, like paper, was easily poked through, indicating that "Sharpness" was still active. Xu Xiaoshou soon let out a long breath. The fact that he could see the heat from his overthinking head confirmed that "Perception" was still active; why would he even need to test it?

He searched carefully within his Zi Fu Yuan Ting. Although the red interface was gone, there was a new, unlit black turntable, simple and unadorned, which was why he hadn't noticed it. With a thought, the black turntable transformed, revealing the red interface. It was clearly sectioned, recording all major basic passive skills, extended passive skills, status passive skills, and so on. The shop, passive points, awakening pool, evolution tree, and other features were all still there; none had vanished.

"I am the Name Ancestor." Xu Xiaoshou found himself thinking this, then quickly shook his head. "I am not the Name Ancestor; I am Xu Xiaoshou." Even though the Name Ancestor's physique and voice in the white mist scene were similar to his own, he didn't believe he could be equated with them.

In reality, when a person splits from themselves, each part also has its own consciousness and lives quite happily. Each part is himself. Each part could also be the Name Ancestor. The former Xu Xiaoshou could be the Name Ancestor, his past life could also be the Name Ancestor, but he himself was not.

"Actually, it wouldn't matter if I were..." Xu Xiaoshou suddenly curled his lips into a smile. With a mere thought of transformation, he became the Name Ancestor, then the Time Ancestor, and then the Exorcism Ancestor, wearing their mask. He smiled. If these three... no, if he appeared before the Devil Ancestor using the image of this eccentric Exorcism Ancestor, what would their reaction be?

Did all Ten Ancestors know these three? He was already eager, even impatient, to return to the River of Time and meet the Devil Ancestor.

"It seems I won't even need to..." Hua Changdeng's personal arrival would be followed by the Three Ancestors' phenomena. Perhaps he wouldn't need to exert much effort; everyone could soon gather and have a good time.

Xu Xiaoshou squinted, recalling, then formed a hand seal with his fingers and shouted loudly from the hospital bed: "Manifest!!!" After a considerable pause, a tiny black mosquito flew out from behind his head, buzzing delightedly.

He decided that if he got the chance in the future, he'd give all Ten Ancestors a taste of this. He wouldn't let himself be the only one having nightmares; if there was good fortune, he'd share it, and if there was trouble, everyone would bear it together.

After savoring the power of the "Great Mosquito Art" for a while, Xu Xiaoshou grumbled as he put aside everything that felt like a half-dream, half-reality, and looked in front of him.

The red interface had returned to his mind. What remained before him was only the small wooden door he had retrieved from the bedside table.

"The Door of Reincarnation..." Xu Xiaoshou murmured, deep in thought.

He had used the Source of Time and Space to trace back the passive system and understood the origins of the black turntable. As for the additional gains, one could only say they were profound!

Regardless of whether those three were from the past or the future, the Devil Ancestor should at least know about Name and Time. As for that eccentric Exorcism Ancestor, he could try to probe later to see if the Devil Ancestor knew of their existence.

However, Xu Xiaoshou no longer had any desire to investigate the Devil Ancestor's "choice of the highest caliber," nor did he wish to cooperate with them. He was calling their bluff: "I don't need it!"

He even planned to use what he had just witnessed as a basis to ascertain if the Devil Ancestor's proposed cooperation aligned with his observations and to uncover any other unknown intentions they might have. As for what identity to use... certainly not merely Xu Xiaoshou. It would be either the Exorcism Ancestor or the Name Ancestor, and if role-playing demanded it, he might even reveal some secrets of the Time Ancestor, Kong Yuhen.

"Ancient ancestral secrets, so valuable and classified as 'highest caliber' encrypted content—and they think they can rely on a few words and truths to win my sincerity and cooperation. When the time comes, I'll be in charge. If you don't pay with some real gold and silver, then I won't be able to utter anything substantial... uh, in short, it won't be revealed for free."

Kong Yuhen likely had no idea what he had witnessed in the world behind the second door. But he now knew Kong Yuhen's identity.

—An avatar of the Time Ancestor, trapped within the River of Time, originally intended to protect the Name Ancestor, but had seemingly undergone a change and developed its own will.

"An ordinary Kong Yuhen wouldn't want to collect the doors..." Xu Xiaoshou stared at the Door of Reincarnation before him, muttering to himself: "This current Kong Yuhen has ideas, or rather, from many generations ago, the Kong Yuhens have started partially conspiring."

"In this era, everything has come into being, following the course of destiny."

Why? Xu Xiaoshou wasn't quite sure before, but now he dared to guess it might be because of his arrival.

"Even if I'm not the Name Ancestor, I am still a Child of Destiny!"

Staring at the Door of Reincarnation before him, Xu Xiaoshou did not immediately leave the hospital room world behind the second door. He knew the secret of the black turntable, but the secret of his own reincarnation was still a question mark.

"Then let's do this!" Without hesitation, Xu Xiaoshou grasped the golden bead and slowly pressed it against the Door of Reincarnation...